


Letters to

by SijiameNiwatoko



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24484294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SijiameNiwatoko/pseuds/SijiameNiwatoko
Summary: A collection of Emet-Selch's letters to Hythlodaeus, before and during the apocalypse. [work in progress]
Relationships: Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Hythlodaeus
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Letters to

Hythlodaeus,

How strange it is to write to you. We have not been apart since our years before Anyder, have we? Yet, as duty calls, I go. While these words are printed, I drift above the waves; it will be another two days until we reach dry shore, and then perhaps a month or so of travelling and inspection before I may start to return. I imagine this would annoy me more than you. Remind me when you write back, if you write back, patience, Hades; there is all the time in the world.

Aside from irritation and a sense of absence, there is not much to report. I have not seen a thing or an idea that does not pale in comparison to our city, unsurprisingly, as they should. Of Amaurot's perfection I stand in firm belief. Why our friend would persist in his ceaseless wanderlust shall always be a mystery to me. Ah. Speaking of him...this is the only time I sincerely wish he is here in my stead, but unfortunately they requested, by name, the presence of Emet-Selch. A need for my sight. So rare is there an outside need for one of the fourteen, and the most eager of us is turned down. He should be quite down in his spirits these days, so do look after--but do not spoil him, Hythlodaus. I will not inquire whose idea it was, but one time of greeting me with a colossal malboro is quite enough.

I am sorry for my sudden departure, and I left a woven nightingale to inform you; it was not possible for me to come in person. The message we received was of utmost urgency. No doubt you shall be hearing of it soon, either from one of my peers, or from the talk running rampant in the city. I do not mean to accuse any citizen of false chatter, but take the latter with care. There is fear in the air, and fear twists even the most acute of minds. Of course, such things post no challenge to your clairvoyance; even so. Certainly there is disaster brewing beyond the sea, a catastrophe of unknown size and origin, this much we are sure of. The rest, I cannot say. Until I see with my own eyes, with the eyes of Emet-Selch, and an official report is filed to the fourteen, nothing can be said by any of us.

Again I sigh over your decision, Hythlodaeus. In times like these, especially, and with your sight keener than mine. Lend me part of it, will you. Let me to peer unto the roots of this disease, and pray may it end swiftly.

Here, now, despite still days away from the harbor, I sense eeriness in the winds. Do you hear anything in Amaurot? Not the usual sounds of the city, but something more subtle, something...sinister. I wonder if we are heightened in all the senses. Never before would I suspect myself to be also hearing the underworld, yet this is the only explanation for the sound in my ears. Word fail me when I attempt a description. Imagine, I say, one of the souls we would see in the sky, a particularly bright one, comparable to the moon...and imagine that soul slowly dissipating, unraveling into threads of aether. And as we watch its death, imagine if it had a voice, a low humming that resonates, a swan song. This.

This sound I hear, I can find no source that emits it, nor any other person who hears it. It troubles me, Hythlodaeus. If you are here, perhaps you would be able to affirm my thoughts, or at least reassure me I am not hallucinating. 

We have not left each other's side for decades, centuries; it seems I have grown unaccustomed to this loneliness of perception. Upon this ship, at this hour, there is but silence and that soft, lifeless murmur. The sea, when one is amid it, is a vastly different creature from the one that laps the shore. When I gaze down, there is nothing to see. No light, no color, no brightness of life as it flows. An emptiness, a void. And I cannot help but wonder, with your eyes--what would you see?

To you I do not lie. To you I hide nothing, even if you are but reading words on a paper, and cannot see through me. I fear, Hythlodaeus.

And you shall smile and reply, there is nothing to fear but fear itself, Hades.

My light is dimming; it is late, though I cannot sleep. These days on the road insomnia has revisited, this old demon of mine, and without you lying beside me it is impossible to defeat. But I have written enough. I hope all is well in Amaurot, and all is well with you.

Hades


End file.
